Shoot benefits Fresh Water Land Trust

Sarah Barnes of Tuscaloosa and her dog, Gunner, pose for pictures following Friday’s Tower Shoot benefitting the Fresh Water Land Trust at Westervelt Lodge near Aliceville.

Photo | Robert DeWitt

By Robert DeWittOutdoors Writer

Published: Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 22, 2013 at 11:58 p.m.

ALICEVILLE | With the sun behind the bird, it was hard to tell whether the pheasant was a hen or a rooster. I put the side-by-side up to my shoulder, pointed below the bird and then pulled through the target. When the barrel covered the bird, I pulled the trigger and felt the recoil of a 1¼-ounce load of No. 6 shot.

Sarah Barnes of Tuscaloosa and her dog, Gunner, pose for pictures following Friday’s Tower Shoot benefitting the Fresh Water Land Trust at Westervelt Lodge near Aliceville.

Photo | Robert DeWitt

Where the pheasant had been, a puff of feathers hung in the air. A second later there was a loud thump as a brown ball landed about five yards from me.

“Hen,” I said to myself. That’s the good thing about shooting pheasants in Alabama. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a rooster or a hen because they’re all released birds. The hens are equally tasty and tend to fly a little faster and higher, too, making them fun to shoot.

I can’t think of a better way to spend a February morning than a tower shoot. This one held Friday benefitted the Fresh Water Land Trust. The organization buys land that is important to the watershed of rivers and streams as a means of protecting the water, said Executive Director Wendy Jackson.

Some of its projects include Red Mountain Park in Birmingham, Tannehill State Park, Turkey Creek Nature Preserve and Big Sandy Creek in Tuscaloosa County. The tower shoot at Westervelt Lodge near Aliceville raised money for the cause.

“This is the third year we’ve done it,” Jackson said. “It’s a great fundraiser for us. Westervelt is really great to work with and our supporters really like it. It’s a good way to support a great cause and have fun at the same time.”

About the fun part, there’s no question about it if you’re a wingshooter. I particularly like Westervelt’s tower shoots. They paid a great deal of attention to their setup so the shooting is safe and as challenging as they can make it. It make for a good day outdoors.

Westervelt’s tower is located in a grove of tall pine trees. When released, the birds have to rise over the trees surrounding the tower. Most of them level out, making for a shot that’s solidly in range but not exactly a gimme. Shooters are in a wire mesh cage blind that prevents them from taking shots at birds flying too low.

Some birds come out of the tower and drop low or move slow. But others immediately climb to heights and take off at speeds that make you stretch your gun to its limits. Some climb completely out of range. To be blunt, birds get missed.

The shooting mimics a European driven pheasant shoot. The fact that the birds are coming at the shooter explains something about how Europeans typically choke their double barrels and over-and-unders.

Most American double guns fire the more open choked barrel first and the tighter choked barrel second. With European doubles, often the tighter choked barrel fires first and the more open choke fires second. It makes sense in this situation so it’s not a bad idea to set up guns with screw-in chokes European style.

I load my own shells and use the same load that I shot ducks with back when you could use lead shot. It contains 26.5 grains of Herco power, a red Winchester wad and 1¼-ounce of No. 4, No. 5 or No. 6 shot in a Winchester Double-A or Remington Premier hull.

On a good tower shoot, you can burn up three boxes of shells or more. Anybody who is sensitive to recoil should consider that when selecting a gun and a load. Anyone shooting 1¼-ounce loads in a double or a pump will definitely feel it. Felt recoil is greater than it is in target shooting because the shooter is anticipating the shot.

Shooters who are sensitive to recoil might want to lighten the load and use a gas-operated autoloader. But pheasants, even pen-raised birds, are pretty tough. I personally like No. 4 shot because it patterns well in just about all of my guns and has a lot of stopping power. But other folks would say that’s overkill. Some people even drop down to 11⁄8-ounce loads of 7½ shot.

There’s no reason not to use a 20 gauge, although I’d use heavier loads. The biggest problem with using a 28-gauge is getting a load with a higher velocity than 1,200 feet per second. But a good shot that limits the range at which he or she shoots can kill birds with a 28 gauge.

Part of the fun is getting to watch some good dog work. Handlers from Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Miss., were there Friday with their dogs to pick up birds.

As one of my Yankee friends said, one real bonus of tower shoots is that you get to eat what you kill. Pheasants are white meat birds with a delicate flavor. I wrap the breasts in bacon and smoke them on a cylindrical smoker over a half a pan of charcoal and a half a pan of water.

Tower shoots aren’t cheap, but on cool February days after duck and deer season have passed, they’re hard to beat.

Reach Robert DeWitt at robert.dewitt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0203.

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